Silk Road, for its more than two and a half years online, was an unprecedented online narcotics emporium. But according to a journal found on the laptop of its alleged creator Ross Ulbricht, Ulbricht wanted it to be even more: a “brand” that extended from communications tools to banking.The trial, which began last week, may last six weeks, according to Bloomberg.
In Ulbricht’s trial Wednesday, prosecutor Timothy Howard read aloud from a journal that was found on the defendant’s Samsung 700z laptop, which was seized at the time of his arrest in a San Francisco library in October, 2013. The journal, which goes back at least as far as 2010, seems to provide the most detailed look yet at Ulbricht’s plans for his libertarian contraband market. And the journal reveals that before his arrest, Ulbricht had allegedly planned to create chat software, a currency exchange, and more, all under the “Silk Road brand.”
The young Texan had allegedly planned to expand the Silk Road into a “brand people can come to trust and rely on,” according to a 2011 passage from the journal. “Silk Road chat, Silk Road exchange, Silk Road credit union, Silk Road market, Silk Road everything!”
Ulbricht’s journal credits that ambition in part to a “mentor” who he calls Variety Jones. “He has helped me to see a larger vision,” Ulbricht writes....
[M]uch of that journal evidence reads like evidence of a massive operational security misjudgement on the part of an overconfident online drug lord. “I imagine someday I may have a story written about my life and it would be good to have a detailed account of it,” the journal reads in one entry.
The prosecution also cited chat logs found on Ulbricht’s computer that seemed to show him communicating with Silk Road staffers, some of which were almost absurdly irony. “Put yourself in the shoes of a prosecutor trying to build a case against you,” prosecutor Howard read aloud at one point, allegedly quoting Ulbricht. “When you look at the chance of us getting caught, it’s incredibly small.”
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Secret Journal Allegedly Shows Ross Ulbricht Planned a Silk Road Bank
Andy Greenberg reports from Ross Ulbricht's trial:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
"
ReplyDelete[M]uch of that journal evidence reads like evidence of a massive operational security misjudgement on the part of an overconfident online drug lord."
Oh, please. Everything quoted as "journal entries" reads like a completely fabricated journal written by or for the prosecution team. I no more believe that there was any such journal on Ulbricht's laptop than I believe he is a "drug lord".
The "journal" is just too convenient for the prosecution. It's like an obviously fake suicide note found a week after evidence of a murder made to look like suicide comes under scrutiny because the deceased somehow shot himself twice in the back with a rifle.
Too bad the Feds got to him, it sounds like he had a lot of great entrepreneurial ideas/inclinations.
ReplyDeleteBeing self assured & entrepreneurial is a double edged sword sometimes. You can drift into the "overreach" & become "egotistical" very quickly, then suddenly it becomes the root of failure. It's hard to strike a balance.
When you hear everyone always say "you can't do that" and your prove them wrong again and again you start to believe you're untouchable....until you're not. Balance....